There is not much difference between an art fair and a fun fair. Behind the gaily painted façades and the smiles of the stallholders they are both, fundamentally, all about money. The problem is how to cajole the punters into parting with as much of it as possible.

Frieze, the contemporary art fair that since 2003 has been staged annually in Regent’s Park, is the art world’s equivalent of Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

This is in part because its founders, the impresarios Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover, spotted a gap in the market created by the Brit Art phenomenon. Art lovers had proved that they were prepared to trot the globe in search of cultural delights and prized possessions, jetting from New York to Tokyo, hopping from the Venice Biennale to the Basle Art Fair. But London’s cultural hotspots had nothing to compare. Frieze changed all that.

Frieze has become a phenomenon because it understands a basic principle. Art fairs have to be fun. They are not about dry academic assessment of the contemporary. They are about entertainment. They must not encourage prudence. They must promote competitive consumption. In a fairground atmosphere, financial caution is more likely to be cast to the wind.

Next month, a frenetic atmosphere will be whipped up. Galleries will flaunt their most eye-catching attractions. And there will be plenty of gimcrack novelties to entice clients. Last year, for the price of a tenner handed over to the Chapman brothers (who defaced it with a cartoonish drawing), you could have an original artwork.

This year the stakes are higher. A golden ticket has been hidden, Willy Wonka-style, in a chocolate bar. The gallery that opens it will win a much-coveted space to set up its stall. Two works by Banksy are to be raffled.

It’s not a new idea. Even now, Milton Keynes Gallery is staging a prize draw for visitors. The lucky ticket holder gets a bean bag designed by Richard Woods. But this is barely worth a bean compared with the cool half-million that the Banksy pictures are said to be worth. The winners in the week of the Frieze fun fair will be laughing all the way to the bank.

www.frieze.com

Editor's choice

• The 100 Best Films of the Decade
• 70 facts you didn't know about Marvel
• The 50 Biggest Movies Of 2010